Lisa Goes Gaga (The Simpsons)
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 If you think that The Simpsons would never go this low to full-on embrace a celebrity, think again.
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Lisa Goes Gaga is the last episode of season twenty-three of The Simpsons.
Plot
Lisa tries to reverse her status as one of the least popular girls in school by ghostwriting positive things about herself on the school blog. When her plan backfires, her social ranking plummets to a new low - until a psychic force tells Lady Gaga (guest-starring as herself) that Lisa needs her help. With Gaga's assistance, Lisa and the entire town of Springfield realize that being yourself is better than being like anyone else.
Why It's Too Gaga
- Lisa at some points is characterized like in one point in the episode she feels bad and wants attention but after Lady Gaga wanted to help her, Lisa tells her that she doesn't need her help, until later (conveniently) she realizes her mistake.
- It's a 22-minute Lady Gaga advertisement and goes on for too long (which would later be a problem for the episode The Musk Who Fell to Earth), even though Gaga is a not a bad person in real life, marked by her public support of disenfranchised communities. Good real-life celebrity cameos in the Simpsons franchise were usually short, played for laughs, and didn't overstay their welcome. Compare it with Michael Jackson's cameo in Stark Raving Dad, which was made at the top of his fame, where he doesn't even play himself and parodies his image.
- The moral is both messed up and nonsensical. It tries to deliver the message that if you are having a bad day, yelling at them makes things better. Additionally, it shows that after Lisa stands up to Lady Gaga, she sings and dances with her.
- The whole town worships Lady Gaga like she's their God.
- This episode is just almost 22 minutes of Lisa getting bullied in this episode when she's supposed to be one of the nicest people in her school. Plus, the idea of being voted for the least popular student in school is very mean-spirited, malicious, and non-realistic. You can't claim someone unpopular for no apparent reason, even if someone is a nice person!
- This shares the same problem with "My Sister, My Sitter", one of the first episodes of the show where things went wrong.
- It goes to show how horrible The Simpsons had handled a Lady Gaga episode; during the show’s golden age, celebrities and their lifestyles were mocked and insulted, but now the show is sucking up to them in this one. If you want to show respect to celebrities or make fun of them, do that in a way of a really funny way, or in a heartwarming and joyful kind of way.
- Many plot holes that aren't explained. For example, how did Lady Gaga get psychic powers?
- Lady Gaga is a central character in the episode and this contributes negatively to its quality since she is a controversial character that has nothing to do with the spirit of the series.
- Not helping is that Lady Gaga herself has bad acting in this episode; she sounds way too hammy and overacts a lot to the point of being annoying.
- In addition, she gets more screen-time than the Simpson family!
- While the voice acting is still good, the songs here are terrible thanks to the singing voices, and they sound like rip-offs of popular Lady Gaga songs.
- On top of that, the singing is laughable. Listening to Lisa sing is equivalent to listening to someone eat coal, and the way Homer sings makes it sound like he's being tortured.
- Adding on to this, as mentioned above, the end credits have Homer singing "Poker Face" in an ear-piercing way.
- The infamous scene where Lady Gaga kisses Marge.
- The ending is confusing and all over the place. Reasons being:
- The only reason why people started liking Lisa at the end is that she sang with Lady Gaga and not because of her overall kindness.
- It ended with an advertisement on the short "The Longest Daycare" that debuted before Ice Age 4. While it's nice that we finally got a proper Simpsons short on the big screen, the fact that it was promoted in this train-wreck instead of any episode that's actually good is just stupid.
- Overall, this episode is just a giant insult to fans of both Lady Gaga and The Simpsons combined.
Redeeming Qualities
- There are some funny jokes, like when Milhouse makes about being scared of the cars from Cars.
- The couch gag, which references the Nintendo Wii and Miis, is hilarious.
- The animation and voice acting are still great as usual, aside from Homer singing "Poker Face" in the credits.
Reception
This episode received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and fans as to being considered one of (if not) the worst of The Simpsons, with many saying it makes "The Principal and the Pauper" look like a masterpiece. It is currently the lowest-rated Simpsons episode on IMDb, as it has a 4.1/10 rating. Phantomstrider ranked it #5 on his video "Top 10 Worst Adult Cartoon Episodes" and #1 on his video "Top 10 Worst Simpsons Episodes".
Trivia
- Lady Gaga's performance at the Super Bowl 2017 Halftime Show was probably inspired by this episode.
- Lady Gaga is the first female character in the series to kiss Marge, indicating she is lesbian/bisexual.
- Lady Gaga's Pyrotechnic Underwear was one of her outfits that was parodied in the episode.
Videos
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